Various forms of ground vehicles have been provided for picking up and supporting round hay bales. However, most of these structures are limited to a capacity of picking up and transporting only single bales with the result that the ground vehicles must waste considerable time in transit back and forth between a field in which round hay bales are disposed and a storage point to which the round hay bales are to be transported. Accordingly, a need exists for a ground vehicle constructed in a manner whereby a plurality of round hay bales may be picked up from the ground and supported upon the ground vehicle for subsequent transport to a remote storage point.
Further, various forms of previous round hay bale pickup and transporting vehicles are constructed in a manner whereby the vehicle may not be forwardly advanced along a row of round hay bales and utilized to pickup a plurality of round hay bales independent of reversing or jockeying the vehicle each time a round hay bale is to be picked up. Therefore, a further need exists for a ground vehicle which may be quickly advanced along a row of ground supported round hay bales and utilized to pickup a plurality of hay bales in a manner requiring only straight line movement of the vehicle along the row of hay bales.
Examples of previously known devices for picking up and transporting hay bales or bundles are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,252,901, 2,722,793, 2,808,948, 3,877,595, 3,800,305, and 3,896,956.